Amy, Number Fifteen
by karmakaze
Summary: How Many Are There, Really?
1. The Realization

Amy, Number Fifteen

**How Many Are There?  Really?**

            The last day of school this year was probably the best day of Amy's life.  From the very day that this awful year had begun, she had desperately wished that it could be over.  Now, she was finally in the ninth grade, and Amy Lawrence could hardly wait.  She sighed as she put all of her notebooks in a pile, and raced to her locker to put them all away, into her backpack, where they would stay until the next school year began.  As she deposited her belongings, her best friend, Sandy came to talk to her.

            "Hi," she said.

            "Hey, Sandy," Amy said routinely, as she jammed her spirals into her backpack.  "Should I call you, or are you going to call me?"

            "I'll call you," Sandy said.  "But we're still going to Hedgemead, right?"

            Amy nodded.  "Yeah, that is going to be so much fun," she sighed happily, imagining the camp in her mind.

            "Well, it will be better than that science camp you went to last year," Sandy commented.

            Amy groaned.  "Don't remind me," she said hastily.  "Hopefully there won't be any creepy people at Hedgemead."

            Sandy sighed.  "There won't be, I assure you.  The kids there are really nice.  Remember, I went last year!"

            Amy nodded.  "Right."

            "Well, I have to go, or I'll miss my bus.  I'll call you after Art class," she said.

            "Okay," Amy said.

            She zipped up her backpack, and she remembered to say goodbye to the rest of her friends, before triumphantly racing out of the school, enjoying her parole.  Her grandparents, as usual, waited to pick her up.

            "So, how was your day?" they asked her.

            "Great," Amy said enthusiastically.  When she arrived home, she logged onto her computer, and went onto a message board that she was accustomed to viewing.  However, what she found there shocked her.

Any Amys online?                          Posted by: Annie Perrault 

            Amy was confused.  Why would someone post on the Internet just to find out that else was named Amy.  Still, her curiosity took control of her, and made her click on the message board.

            Hi, my name is Annie, and I am from Paris.  Well, I'll make it quick.  Are you adopted?  Do you have natural brown hair and brown eyes?  Have you never been sick?  Do you think that you are perfect?  Do you have a crescent moon mark on your right shoulder?  Is your name Amy?  Are you fourteen, and entering the ninth or tenth grade, depending on what school district you live in?  If you meet the criteria, e-mail me at anniep@yahoofrance.com

            Now, Amy was even more curious.  What was Annie getting at?  And why was she describing her?  Amy shuddered.  Relax, she thought.  You have red hair.  And you don't have a crescent moon on your back.  Well, she used to.

            Without thinking clearly, Amy clicked on Annie's e-mail address, and wrote a message.

            Hello.  My name is Amy.  I used to have a crescent moon on my back, but it faded after I pierced my ears.  I think I was better at things before that, but Mom told me I was just being stressed to think that.  Why are you looking for someone like me?

            Amy checked out some other websites, and pushed Annie to the back of her mind for a while, or tried to at least, until a voice chirped.  You've got mail!

            Amy clicked on the box, and sure enough, Annie had written back.

            Amy, I am very glad that you wrote to me.  I know this may be unbelievable, but you are a clone.  If you take your earrings out, and let the holes close up, you will be perfect again.  Trust me.  Go to this attachment and look at a picture of me.  I am an Amy too.

            Amy shrieked.  "I am not a clone," she shouted at the computer.  Remembering that Annie could not hear her, she clicked the attachment, and a girl's picture popped up.  Long, straight brown hair, brown eyes, perfect teeth.  Amy shuddered as she imagined Annie with short, dyed red hair, and glasses, and earrings that she had needed after her ears were pierced.

            Amy's mouth went dry as she typed back.  Tell me more, she wrote.

            "Amy, we're home," her mother called out.

            "Mom?" she asked.  "What is going on?  A girl named Annie wrote me, and said that I'm a clone.  You have some explaining to do!"

            Amy's mother's mouth went dry.  "Annie.  You mean, Amy, Number Nine.  She must have been one of the first twelve.  How did she find out about the secretly cloned Amys?  You were Number Fifteen."

            Amy screamed.  "No!  I can't be a clone!  Mom, please!  Say it isn't true!  Clones don't exist!  Well, except for that baby Eve in.  Are we in a cult?  Omg, Mom, tell me what's going on!"

            "Well, Amy.  Sit down," her mother said, sitting her down on the couch.  "Fourteen years ago, I was a member of a secret government organization aimed to bring people to a higher level of physical and mental perfection.  We assigned a group of scientists to create twelve male and female clones.  However, Dr. Morrison of the group was told that there was a chance that the scientists would terminate the project.  She then cloned four more in each set.  Amy, Number Thirteen was discovered, so her earlobe was punctured.  This eliminates your perfection.  Then, with Amys Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen, they were adopted among members of the Organization.  I pierced your ears, so that no one could use you until you were ready."

            "Use me?" Amy asked.  "For _what_?"

            "Well, it's complicated.  But I think that you will enjoy this camp you are going to," her mother said.

            Amy's mouth was so dry that she could not say a word, until the phone rang.  "That's Sandy," she said, picking it up.

            "Hello?" Amy asked.

            "Hi," Sandy said.  "I just called to tell you that I can't go to camp because so many people signed up that there wasn't room for me."

            "What?" Amy gasped.

…………………..Meanwhile…………………………………………………………….

            Annie groaned as she sat at the table.  "Annie, you should really be thanking us for returning you from that autopsy," Annie's mother said.  "It's a miracle that we could return you to your original age."

            Annie groaned.  "I could have done so much."

            "I just hope that a month at Hedgemead will clear up your mind," Annie's father said.

            "Oh, that," she groaned.  "What fun."

Note: I do not own Annie, or the original thirteen Amys and twelve Andys.  I do, sort of, own Fifteen, but not really.  Marilyn Kaye owns replica.


	2. The Emergency

Chapter Two 

            After dinner, Annie was sent straight to bed.  Ever since she had collapsed at her ballet recital, and the autopsy men had taken a DNA sample from her, revealing her unique condition to the scientific world, her parents had feared for her life.  She dully remembered that day, when she had woken up, and had overheard their conversation with the press downstairs.

"Hi, I'm Gustave from the Parisian Times, and we'd like a word with your daughter.  Is it true that she can change her age at will?"

"Go away!  You are wrong!  There is nothing freakish about my daughter, now leave us be!" Annie's mother had shouted at the press.

"Marthe," Annie's father said to her mother.  "Excuse me," he said, stepping in front of his wife.  "I shall explain everything."

"Henri, no!" Marthe shouted at him.  "You don't mean!"

"Relax," Henri whispered in her direction.  "Our fourteen-year-old daughter is not here.  She went missing about a year ago."

"Then explain Claire Perrault, the newest member of the ballet.  We hear that she had died, and is now back with you!  Are you sure that Claire and Annie are not the same girl?"

Henri faked a laugh, and he was a fairly good actor.  "Oh, forgive me for not explaining.  You see; Claire is my niece.  She is staying with us for now, because she came here to get into Annie's ballet program.  They needed a replacement for her, until she's back, which I hope she will be."

Marthe stared at Henri in astonishment.  "Yes, that's true."

"Can't we at least _talk _to Claire?" Gustave asked.  "Maybe interview her?"

"Gustave, Claire nearly died.  She doesn't want visitors!" Henri said, continuing his lie.

Once Gustave was gone, Marthe had something to say to Henri.  "What was that?  Now how are we going to explain when Annie returns, and Claire is gone forever?"

"Ah, do not worry.  We shall tell them that Claire has gone off somewhere to think, she has lost interest in ballet.  Meanwhile, Annie is back, and the company liked her performance better.  Marthe, you worry far too much," Henri said.

"I'm worried about having Annie's reputation marred by her nonexistent cousin's lousy performance!" Marthe shouted.

It was settled.  Soon, Annie would return to her ordinary, fourteen-year-old self, and hopefully everyone would forget there ever having been a young woman mysteriously dead right in front of them.  Sure, they might dwell on it, but the stresses and joys of their lives would wash the memory away with time, and Annie's parents would tell the police that their daughter had been found, and Claire would be forgotten.

            Annie wanted to die, as she looked through her room.  She had been recovering from the ageing treatment for six and a half weeks, and had reached about age nineteen.  She was almost glad that no one knew that she was back.  It meant that no one had to see her like this.  Her hair hung in mangled clumps throughout her head, and her expression was pale, with a mixture of hate and despair.  She had let an entire government organization down, and worst of all, she had lost all of her powers, and the crescent moon birthmark on her back.  It figured.  Sebastien probably didn't think that she _deserved _to have superior powers anymore.  Now that she was a failure, weak, and helpless; everything that she hated, she had no reason to be conceited as she used to be.  Now, rage and a feeling of complete loss replaced her ambitious need to take over the world.

            "Annie, we have called for a doctor, and I want you to stay in bed.  He says that he has to take you to the hospital to do more tests," Marthe said.  "This doctor knows about Project Crescent, so you will be safe."

            Despite Annie's mother's perfectionism, if it wasn't sympathy that inclined her to keep Annie around, it was pure shame in having a crippled daughter, and the desire to make her better before anyone knew about it.  Now, Annie even needed help to walk, and she figured that if she was not able to become her normal self by the time that she returned to her normal age, that they might not love her anymore at all.  Not that she cared in the least for them, but not even meeting _their _standards made her feel ill.

            "Annie, the doctor is here!" her father called.

            The man entered the room, and was about to introduce the phony, made-up name that he had created for himself, but he didn't have to.

            "Sebastien?" she asked.

…………………………Meanwhile……………………………………………………….

            Amy Lawrence sat in her room, crying.  How could she be a clone?  Sure, she had always considered her self to be different, but now she wasn't even human.  It was midday, and Amy had refused to come down for dinner the past night.  Her mother had tried to get her to come down, and she even refused to talk to her father, who hadn't called in five years, when the phone had rang last night.  Even if he was her dad, he had left them when Amy was only seven-years-old, and was probably returning for money's sake.  There was just no other explanation for why Sebastien would contact her mother, Cindy Lawrence.

            Eventually, Amy's hunger overcame her need to ponder what had happened, and she wandered downstairs to get herself a bowl of cereal.  "Mom?" she asked.  "What are you doing home?"

            "Amy, sweetie, I wanted to talk to you about what I told you yesterday," Cindy said.

            "Well, I don't," Amy said, backing away.

            "Amy…" her mother started.  Just then, the phone rang.

            "Hello?" Cindy asked.

            Amy decided to test her newfound clone abilities, and find out who was on the other end of the line.  "Hello, Cindy, zees ees Sebastien.  I have called ask zat you return Fifteen to our custody right now."

            "My…my…daughter?  Now?  But you said that you weren't going to start the procedure until she was eighteen!" Cindy shrieked.  

            "We have found alternate methods of getting her to that age," Sebastien explained.  "And we have perfected them, due to our recent problems accelerating Amy, Number Nine," he said, as if that would completely reassure Cindy that it was okay to give her daughter to this group of barbarians, or Nazis, many of which Cindy had discovered shortly before Sebastien had left the family.

            Torn between her only source of income, and her love for Amy, Cindy fainted.

            "Mom!" Amy shrieked.  

            Amy heard the phone fall to the ground, and she picked it up.  "Dad?" she asked.  "Dad, Mom just fainted!  What are you trying to pull?  Are you from that government Organization too?  I have to go, okay, Mom fainted!" she shrieked in a panic.

            "Okay, okay, Amy," Sebastien said calmly.  "I will call zee hospital for her, help ees on zee way."

            "I don't trust you," Amy breathed, as she put down the phone.  Instinctively, she dialed 911 herself.

            After what seemed like hours of waiting, and dreading, some paramedics finally came to take Cindy to the hospital.  "I'll come with her," Amy offered.

            "No, no, Amy," Sebastien said.  "I am her father," he explained to the Paramedics.  "And I am really her legal Guardian.  I shall take her."

            "No one's taking me anywhere!" Amy said.  Still, she seemed to have no other option but to go with him.  Besides, she didn't really feel much loyalty to her mother after last night.  Although she knew deep down that it was pointless to blame Cindy, a part of her did.

            When she entered the backseat of his car, she found herself sitting next to a brunette woman whose attractiveness was flawed by her sickness and exhaustion.

            "Is this your new wife, or something?" Amy asked sarcastically.

            "Zees ees Amy, Number Nine," Sebastien explained.  "Her growth has been accelerated, and it ees wearing off slowly, causing her to be a bit weak."

            Amy was horrified.  "Why did you do that to her, it's terrible!"  Then, a thought crossed Amy's mind.  "Are you Annie?" she asked, having a one in fifteen chance of being right.

            Annie looked just as surprised, although wearier.  "How can you be Amy, Number Fifteen?" she asked.  "You are a redhead with glasses."

            "I dyed my hair," Amy explained.  "Brown was just too…ordinary."

            Something was blurring Amy's vision, and she took off her glasses to wipe them clean, when she noticed that her vision actually improved without them, to far better than they had been when the glasses had helped.

"You removed your earrings, I see," Annie commented.  "Will my powers return when I reach my regular age?"

"Someone, I do not know who, triggered what made zee original twelve Amys perfect.  However, there ees no need to worry, I can bring zem back," Sebastien said.  "I shall only fix zee powers of zee clones who will help us zees time.  Zee rebellious clones shall not stop us zees time."

            Annie groaned.  "Great.  Have you managed to collect any other Amys besides us?" she asked lethargically.

            "Yeah, I was wondering that myself," Amy cut in. 

            "Yes, in fact, we have Amys Thirteen through Sixteen with us.  And you of course, Annie.  I am hoping that in time, you can be a role model for the younger Amys."

            "We are not younger," Amy interrupted.  "She's still fourteen, just in a mature body!"

            "Will you just shut up?" Annie asked.  Amy wasn't quite sure whom the question was directed to, but she was sure that three more girls with the same name as her would become extremely confusing over time.  And she also knew that her father had a lot of explaining to do.


	3. The Clones

Chapter Three, New Management 

            Amy stayed silent for a moment, dumbstruck with confusion.  "Zees eez where we will stay," Sebastien said, motioning toward a hotel like building.  "We do not own zees establishment, so we must stay on a low profile, and not leave our area."

            Annie looked surprised.  "You do not own it?  Are you no longer in charge of this conspiracy?"

            Sebastien shook his head.  "Zee organization eez under new management I am afraid.  I shall explain more later."

            Annie looked angry that she was going with someone other than the leader, but obediently followed Amy and Sebastien into the hotel.  Amy just shifted her view between them, hoping that she would survive.

Memo From The Real Director:

To all still loyal:

            Here is the new plan.  It is not fair for we who have worked so hard to bring human beings to a level of perfection that we have been shut down.  Our former leader has been experimenting with subjects Thirteen through Sixteen in each set.  We will kidnap the original twelve in each set, and delete their emotions, with the exception of loyalty before we return their perfection.  There is no word on the whereabouts on Amy, Number Nine, but we know Three is dead.  Andys Three and Nine will be made leaders of their group since they cannot be paired with Amys.

                                                                                                Dr. Marcowitz

Re: To all still loyal

From: cindy28@projectcrescent.com 

            Please tell me what your plans with Amy, Number Seven are.  I'd say we discard that horrible child, and only leave room for good clones in our elite!

                                                                                                Cindy, Number Twenty Eight

From: The Real Director

To: Cindy, Number Twenty Eight

Re: To All Still Loyal

            Do you think that I cannot handle a now ordinary fourteen-year-old girl?  We will kidnap her just like we will the other Amys.  Seven is no different.  We will fight the old leaders, and obtain their clones as well, and one clone will not stop us from doing all of that now **_will it_**?  Only if you let it, which I won't.

                                                                                                Dr. Marcowitz

From: Tammy

To: The Real Director

Re: To All Still Loyal

            It was good thinking to take all the clone powers for now.  It's a good thing that the clones with Sebastien are so rebellious too, they'll never learn anything useful from that nutcase at this rate.

                                                                                                Tammy

            Amy realized that her father must have somehow become rich since she last saw him, when she found herself in a suite.  Maybe he owned a business.  Either that, or he stole the money.  "Zees ez zee living room," Sebastien explained to Amy.  Then, he addressed the three Amys and four Andys sitting on soft couches in this lovely room with flowers on a nicely finished coffee table, and with pale yellow walls with a flower wallpaper strip across the top of it.  "Here are Amy, Number Fifteen, and Amy, Number Nine."

            "I remember you," an Amy said.  "You're evil!"  Amy jumped, but she realized that the Amy was pointing at Annie.

            "Aly!  So **_you're _**the one who almost killed Sebastien?" Annie asked angrily, refusing to sit like she was told to.

            Amy gasped.  Her father was not her favorite person, but she didn't want anyone, especially another Amy, trying to kill him.  "Aly?  You tried to kill my dad?"

"He's an android!  He runs on batteries, and he was trying to unite some of the other clones to take over the world," Aly began.  "And I just gave him batteries from Amy, Number Seven's Walkman.  They were Energizer.  I…I…I had no idea that they would kill him!"

"Aly!  My father is _not _an android!  That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Amy shrieked.  Still, knowing that she was a clone, it was quite possible now.

"Yes, he is," Annie said.  "It's true.  He has a human brain, and an android body."

"I can't believe this.  I can _not _believe this!" Amy said.  "First I'm a clone, now my dad's an android.  What's my mother?"

"Everyone," Sebastien addressed the group.  "Es zer anyone here who doesn't know of their origins?"

Three of the Andys raised their hands, and one dumbstruck looking Amy raised hers.  "Okay, I will explain it once.  Thirty years ago, I began research on cloning.  At first, I hired a group of scientists to clone a group of women to help me carry out my experiments.  They are sometimes known as the pink smocks.  Unfortunately, their…"

"They had no emotions or intellect so their only capability is to obey commands," Aly said fiercely.

"Shut up," Sixteen said.  "Fourteen needs to hear the real story, not some made up bogus from your large trap!"

Fifteen looked at her in alarm.  She then decided that Sixteen was one clone whom she would avoid.

"As I was saying, I ordered another set of clones to be made.  I cloned just about everyone on my staff.  Fifteen, your mother was one of them.  Then, I had an idea later on…"

"MY mother is a clone too?" Amy shrieked.  "That's impossible!"

"Anyway, later on I decided zat I would create perfection amongst zee world.  I ordered scientists to find males and females from around the world who excelled either physically, mentally, had good vision, could read quickly, ect.  Zere DNA was taken, and used to make you.  All of my workers were told that zere were twelve Amys and Andys, but there were sixteen.  Only one Amy was discovered by the original scientists."

"Me," Aly said.

"Yes, Thirteen.  So, zee scientist in charge of your birth pierced your ears so that you could not be used for good causes.  You were all, except for Amy, Number Thirteen, given to members of our organization, and raised until now.  Now, we shall begin our goals," Sebastien said.

"Really?" an Andy asked.  "What goals?"

"To take over the world," Aly provided.

"Finally!" Amy, Number Sixteen said.  "My mother was really being obnoxious about me hiding my gifts all of a sudden.  Well, I'm not going to do that anymore."

Annie looked at her sympathetically, if it was possible for her to do that, and she decided that she now had an ally.  Amy made a mental note to talk to Aly as soon as she could.

"Well, some of you have certain flaws that will be corrected.  I need to stabilize Amy, Number Nine's DNA.  You wait here, and get to know each other better."

Amy walked toward the door, and found that it was locked.  "What are you doing?" Amy Sixteen asked, pulling her away from the door.

"Back off!  I'm trying to get us out of here!" she shrieked.

"Out of here?" Amy Sixteen asked.  "But why?  We can take over the world!  Why run away when you could own everything on this Earth?  You could have anything you wanted!"

"But that's wrong!" Aly objected.

"No it isn't, Thirteen," Sixteen said cruelly.  "Only the superior people can rule, and we are they.  It is our time to rule."

"I think she picked up a copy of _Annie Perrault for Dummies_," Aly said lamely.

"You know her?" Amy asked Aly.

"Yeah.  Stay away from her.  She's evil," Aly stated.  "She almost got together with one of the Andys and created a master race."

One of the Andys blushed.  "A master race?" Fourteen asked.  "This is really starting to sound like that World War II movie I saw in school."

"Sebastien is a Nazi," Aly said.  "So is Annie."

"Oh Lord.  First I'm a clone, then Dad's a robot, next Mom's a clone, and now Dad's a _Nazi too_?  I am not believe this, I am just not believing this," Amy said.  "I am going to wake up, and you all are not going to exist."

"Don't push your luck, Fifteen," Sixteen said.  "We're trapped here, and the organization will win.  We are going to fight the other Amys and Andys, and we will steal them from the new leaders.  Then, we can rule the world."

"No, we won't.  No _you _won't," Aly said.

At that moment, Amy was very confused, and she had no idea who to believe.


	4. The Other Side

The Other Side

A/N: This is what's happening to the first twelve clones, who were supposed to fight the new ones.

            Amy, Number Eight closed her wallet, and sat down with her tray at the table.  Her school in Brooklyn was still in session, which she didn't really see the point of.  Everyone was too excited about their summer, which was starting in one week, to really care about their studies.  She remembered her last e-mail from Amy, Number Seven, who was already out of school.  Eight sighed, and shook her head, thinking about how badly Seven wanted her powers back.  At first, Eight had liked being normal, but now she was starting to rethink her position on this argument.  The Organization really couldn't have picked a worse time to take their powers, especially since finals were tomorrow, and Eight had, as usual, waited until the last minute, assuming that she had the textbooks memorized.

            When she finally got home, Eight sat down at her computer to look up her assignment for Algebra, when she received an instant message.

Amy 1- Hi, Eight!  Did you read the message from Mr. Devon?

            Eight quickly typed.  No.  Did he write us?

Amy 1- Yeah.  It's important.  It's about our powers.

Amy 12- Our powers?  We lost our powers; they're gone!  Get over it already!

            Eight looked at her Inbox, and found the e-mail that Amy One was referring to.  

From                                        Subject                                     Received

adevon@everestla.net               We need your help                   June 3

            Eight automatically knew that this message must be important, or else Mr. Devon wouldn't be writing to her.  She clicked on it, and received a message that she assumed had been the same for all of the Amys.

Dear Amy,

            I am regretful to announce that the Organization is under new management, but is back in power.  They have kidnapped Amy, Number Thirteen, and don't ask me how, or why, but Amy, Number Nine is alive.  We need the help of as many Amys as we can get, but we'd have to return your perfection, which can be done.  A cab will come to pick up any clones willing to help tomorrow morning at seven o'clock.  All expenses have been prepaid.

                                                                                                Mr. Devon

            Eight gasped.  Aly had been kidnapped?  She let the thought go through her mind a few times, but no plausible reason came to her.  Just to make sure that this wasn't a trick, Amy Eight picked up the phone, and decided to call Aly to find out for herself.

            "Hello.  Is this the police?  Where is Aly?" Mrs. Kendricks said.

            "Hi, this is Amy Sherman," she said, remembering that Aly's mom would rather call them by first and last, or first and middle names than by a number.  "Is Aly missing?"

            "She's been missing for two days," Mrs. Kendricks replied, as if in tears.  "Oh no! You mean only she is gone, not the rest of you Amys?"

            "It seems so," Amy Eight said regretfully.  "Well, some of the clones are getting together to try and rescue her, so hang in there," she said, more confidently than she felt.

            Mrs. Kendricks sighed.  "Please find her.  She's my only daughter."

            "We'll do what we can," Amy Eight assured her.

            The next morning, Amy Eight knew that her parents would not be much of a problem, since they always went to work before she got up for school, and luckily, Eight had a plan.  She picked up the phone, and dialed the attendance hotline for her school.  "Hello, you have reached Brooklyn High School's Attendance Hotline.  Please state your name, and your child's name, and reason for absence.  If you would like to request homework, please come get it at the front office."

            Amy Eight deepened her voice to imitate her mother's.  "Hello, this is Mrs. Sherman, I'm Amy Sherman's mother.  She's in the ninth grade at this school, and she had a very high fever.  I took her to the hospital yesterday, and the doctor has requested that she stay home for at least a few days.  I'll call you back when she's feeling better, but whenever that is, she will make up the finals.  Yes, she's really worried about that, and I'll have her study once she gets to feeling better.  Thank you, bye."

            Eight winced, since she hated lying, but she knew that she had to, or else Amy Thirteen could be cloned…and Nine would be more determined than ever to obtain world domination.

            Then, she heard a car's horn go off in the front yard, and Eight opened the door to the taxi, and slid into the black leather seat, making sure to slam the door shut behind her.  She had taken a backpack, filled with clothes and toiletries, and a cell-phone for later.

            "I need you to take me to…" Amy Eight began.

            "Kid, I know where you're going, just stay back there, and keep quiet," the driver said, not even turning his head to look at her.

            Eight looked at him in alarm.  "What's going on?  Why does it need to be quiet in here?"

            "Don't ask me questions, I have directions from my superior to keep listening for signals, or signs that someone is following us," the driver continued.

            "Mr. Devon is your superior, right?  Because he's the one who told me to be here," Eight said hopefully.

            "Um, yes.  Mr. Devon has called a cab for all of the clones, and you will have your perfection returned as soon as possible," he said.

            Amy Eight sighed.  "Fine, can I call someone?"

            "You have your own phone?" the cab driver asked.  "Because I don't want to waste my battery so that you can talk to one of your little friends."

            Amy Eight nodded.  "Yes, I brought my cell-phone."

            The driver sighed.  "Just don't talk for too long, or too loudly, I need to stay alert, so I can keep you safe."

Eight nodded, and pulled her cell phone out of her backpack, and pressed talk, and began to dial.  Although Eight knew that her best friend, Zoë, wouldn't be at school yet, and although it might have been rude to call early in the morning, she did anyway.

            "Hello?" Zoë asked in confusion.

            "Hi, this is Amy.  Could you please tell my mom that I'm staying over at your house if she calls?" Eight asked, her voice trembling nervously at the thought of lying once again.

            "This is about the Organization, isn't it?" Zoë asked, knowing her best friend all too well.

            Eight nodded, but then remembered that Zoë couldn't see her.  "Yeah.  One of my clones has been kidnapped, and that awful Nine I told you about is back."

            "Eight, you're not going after the Organization again," Zoë sighed.  "Those people are dangerous, one of these days if you keep on going on Mr. Devon's secret missions, they're going to find all the Amys.  Just because they're out of power now doesn't mean that they can't get themselves back up.  Anyone with a well formulated plan can kidnap someone, and use someone else, let's say Aly, as bait."

            "I have to do this," Eight said, more trying to convince herself than her friend.  "Mr. Devon said that he will return our perfection, and we'll be able to save her.  I want to be able to stop Nine as well; she's never going to give this power thing up.  Just please cover for me?  I owe you if you do!" Eight said.  

            "Okay," Zoë sighed.  "Just take care of yourself."

            "I'll be fine, don't worry," Eight said compassionately.

            "We have arrived," the cab driver announced.

            "Gotta go," Eight told Zoë.

"Bye, Eight."

Amy Eight looked at the library, and walked in a bit uneasily, not really looking forward to seeing herself everywhere again.  As she entered the big hallway, she put on her sunglasses, like Mr. Devon had asked, and she entered the library, and sat down at a table where three other Amys were waiting.

            "Hi," Eight said uneasily.  "Which ones are you?"

            "I'm Five," a girl with her hair braided said.  "And you?"

            "Eight," Amy Eight said.

            "Eleven," another Amy echoed.

            "Two," the third Amy said.

            "So, why are you guys here?" Eight asked lamely, trying to make conversation, and to make sure that they were all on the same page.

            "Because my Andy is supposed to meet me here," Two replied.

            Eight was taken aback.  "_What_?"

            "Well," Eleven said.  "_I'm _here because there's no school today, and I was going to do some research and find out why we aren't perfect anymore."

            A blonde Amy sat down at the table, and Eleven groaned.  "What are you all doing here?" she whined.  "I'm supposed to be the star of this show!  Where's my manager, he was supposed to be here by now!"

            "Ten, could you just shut up?" Eleven asked angrily.

            Two more Amys pulled up chairs to the table, and were clearly as confused as the Amys already there.  "Amys?" a girl asked.  "Have you come to listen to my choir?"

            Eight realized then that she had identified One, who had been one of her allies back on the island.

            "I don't care about your stupid choir!" Ten screeched.  "I'm going to fire my manager, this is ridiculous!"

            "_You're _ridiculous!" Eleven scoffed.

            "Your manager had nothing to do with this," Seven said, sitting down next to Ten.  "We've yet again, been kidnapped."

            All of the Amys were here by now, and one girl started to cry.  "But I'm not perfect anymore!  I can't do challenges and stuff like I did on the island!"

            Clearly, one Amy had to get her story straight.  "Ooh, are there Andys here this time too?" Six asked excitedly.

            "Forget the Andys!" Eight yelled.  "What I want to know is what are we doing here?  Are we really saving Aly, or not?"

            "Who, your defective friend from the island?" Twelve asked.  "Is she missing again or something?"

            "We're _all _defective now," Seven reminded her.  "I don't know, Eight, is Aly missing?"

            "Hey, you guys!  There's a door right there!  We can escape!"  Five said, yet again managing to take charge.

            "Thank you, Capitan Obvious," Amy Four said sarcastically, as she had been tugging at the door for the past few minutes.  "It's locked!"

            "Wait a minute," Eleven said.  "Why isn't there anyone here but us?"

            "There is," Four said, looking down a hallway.  "In there," she said, pointing to another door, leading to a room, not an exit.

            "How can you tell?" Twelve asked.  "We aren't perfect anymore, you couldn't have seen that far, could you?"

            But slowly, all the Amys perfect vision was coming back, and one by one, they were able to see the door, and see people inside.

            "Well, _I'm _going to find out who's in there, and tell them that if they keep ruining my career time and time again, my agent will kill them!"

            Four grabbed Ten's wrist before she could make it to the door.  "Are you insane?  That's the Organization in there!"

            "We're going to have to confront them sooner or later," Seven warned them.

            "Fine," Five said.  "If we all go together, we can take on however many there are."

            As the Amys crept down the hallway, everyone looked at Five, who was at the front of the line.  "Do you see anything?" One asked.

            Five turned around.  "I think it's safe to go in."

            "What makes you so sure of _that_?" Ten demanded.

            "Those are the Andys in there.  And as far as I can tell, they're alone," Five said, with a tremble in her voice.

            She opened the door, and one by one, each Amy made her way inside.  "Hey, girls!" an Andy said.  "What's up, have you come to hang out?"

            Another Andy came in front of him.  "What's going on?" he asked.  "I'm Nine.  Just ignore Four, he's a bit of a jerk."

            Amy Four let out a whine, in response to her Andy being that way, but no one was listening.  "I'm Amy Five," Five said.  

            "Are there any Organization members in here?" One asked cautiously, as if she were afraid that one might jump out and attack her.

            "There probably are," Seven said.  "Who else would lock us up in here?"

            "Six, you pushed me!" Ten shrieked.  "That better not leave a bruise, or…"

            "It looks like we're alone," an Andy said in a state of confusion.  "I haven't seen any Organization members anywhere!"

            "Alone?" Seven asked.  "That can't be!  Why would they go to all the trouble of bringing us here, and returning our powers just to leave us here?"

            "I suggest we look for them," Five said.  "They've got to be around here somewhere!"

            But they weren't.  In fact, the Organization was miles away, but with surveillance cameras, watching their every move.


End file.
